1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic cellular telephone systems, and more particularly to an improved user interface for a cellular telephone system subscriber unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Cellular telephones have become very popular as communication devices. Typical cellular telephones are small, hand-held devices that provide a keypad for data entry and a display to see the results of such entry. As the popularity of hand-held cellular telephones has increased, the number of features offered by such devices has increased.
A problem with the numerous features offered by cellular telephones is that they are frequently difficult to use. Because of the limited keyboard (typically a 0-9 numeric keypad plus several additional function keys) and the limited amount of display (commonly only a single line), accessing and using such features as telephone directories, "canned" messages, security features, and the like are often confusing and difficult.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a hand-held cellular telephone system that offers various "user-friendly" features that are easy to use despite the space limitations of a keyboard and display inherent in a hand-held design. The present invention overcomes these limitations by providing innovative ways in which to enter data and access a number of user convenient features, including improved search capabilities, security features, and alphanumeric data entry features.